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Commission of Investigation terms to be finalised next week

The committee will include the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister for Justice, Minister for Communications and Attorney General

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that he expects the terms of reference for the Commission of Investigation into garda telephone recordings to be finalised next Tuesday.

He said that the terms of reference of a Cabinet committee aimed at setting up an Independent Garda Authority will be finalised.

Mr Kenny said the committee will involve himself as chairperson and will include the Tánaiste, the Minster for Justice, the Minister for Communications and the Attorney General.

He said the aim of the committee will be to oversee the structure and the strategy of putting in place an Independent Garda Authority.

Mr Kenny said that this had been talked about for the last 30 years.

He said that the Government now intends to tackle this for what he described as "the men and women who serve in the Garda Síochána to have a statutory independent authority where they can do their job without taint or complication or confusion".

Mr Kenny said that he expects that the new garda body will be established by the end of the year.

However, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that he accepts that there has to be a change in the governance of the force.

Mr Martin said Fianna Fáil will await the details of the committee, but many questions still remain to be answered and that this move will not bring an end to the current controversy.